16 Mobile Marketing Strategies to Leverage in 2024! 📱

Developing a mobile marketing strategy follows the timeless marketing principle of reaching your audience where they are.

But it’s one thing to know that your leads and customers are avid users of mobile devices.

It’s another to know how to grab their attention and successfully sell to them while they are on those devices.

Not to worry.

We’ve sifted through the noise and identified the top 16 smartphone marketing strategies that will likely give you the best ROI and help you hit your mobile marketing goals.

What is Mobile Marketing?

Before delving into the meat of the post, let’s ensure everyone’s singing from the same hymn sheet on what mobile marketing is.

Mobile marketing involves using strategies optimized for mobile gadgets to engage people to achieve specific business goals.

It’s simply marketing to people on their mobile devices.

With mobile marketing, the marketer’s target devices can range from smartphones to tablets or even smartwatches.

Think of it as digital marketing that reaches people on portable digital devices.

So what is a mobile marketing strategy?

It’s a plan featuring the where and how of your mobile marketing campaign.

Common mobile marketing channels include search engines, social media, mobile games, SMS, email, push notifications, and more.

Some channels are available on other devices, and some are mobile-specific.

That’s the versatility of mobile marketing at play.

It lets you deliver mobile-friendly experiences on device-agnostic channels such as search engines and also allows you to connect with users via mobile-specific means such as SMS.

Benefits of Mobile Marketing

What are some of the advantages of mobile marketing?

1. Mobile clicks save money

Mobile marketing is cost-effective in several ways.

When dealing with organic growth channels, you can simply repurpose your current content to suit mobile users better.

And in the case of paid growth channels, for instance, running SMS, social media, or in-app ads for mobile is cheaper than regular desktop, TV, or print ads, making mobile marketing especially suited to small businesses.

Not to mention that adopting a mobile digital marketing strategy lets you run highly targeted and location-based ads, which cut down wastage and improve ROI.

2. Mobile user experience impacts purchase decisions

Nowadays, more people expect seamless interactions via mobile devices to be part of the customer experience.

For instance, reports show that people are 62% less likely to purchase from a brand after a negative mobile experience.

In 2021, about 72.9% of retail eCommerce sales came from mobile devices.

People want to interact with brands on mobile, and their experience from such interactions affects their purchasing decision.

As such, creating positive user experiences by making it easy for people to discover your brand, make purchases, and get support via a mobile device increases your likelihood of winning and retaining more customers.

3. Mobile marketing is a different marketing animal

No other digital marketing channel offers the kind of accessibility mobile marketing does.

2021 saw a global mobile usage of 3.8 trillion hours, so with a mobile marketing strategy, you’re better enabled to reach your audience instantly.

Also, mobile marketing opens up your marketing strategy to fresher and more creative campaigns that will likely be more impactful.

4. Mobile marketing is highly personalized

Mobile marketing allows you to leverage personalization in unique ways.

For instance, location-based marketing can deliver relevant mobile content to people based on their location in real time.

Also, by paying attention to your customers’ in-app behavior, you can offer personalized in-app content like recommendations and off-app experiences like push notifications and emails.

This will get you in your target audience’s good books as 71% of customers expect companies to deliver personalized experiences, and 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.

Mobile Marketing Strategies

Let’s explore some mobile-driven marketing strategies guaranteed to give you the most bang for your buck.

1. Make your website mobile-friendly

If you’re looking to adopt a mobile marketing strategy, making your website mobile-friendly should be your first point of call.

A mobile-friendly website adjusts to the screen size of the mobile device used in accessing it, such that the web pages are easily navigable, their content is readable, and links are clickable.

As mobile accounts for roughly half of the global web traffic, optimizing your website for mobile is a no-brainer.

Doing so will guarantee leads and customers a great experience and reduce your bounce rate.

Plus, Google prioritizes mobile-optimized websites, so ensuring yours meets the criteria will improve traffic to your website and other Google Analytics metrics.

2. Create a mobile app

As a mobile marketing strategy, developing a mobile app will bring you and your small business closer to your audience.

This way, customers will be a few clicks away from whatever they need, from viewing new products to requesting support.

Little wonder 39% of smartphone users are likelier to shop on a company's app.

Also, mobile app marketing would allow you to roll out push notifications directly to your audience’s smartphones, whether or not they are logged into the app.

So messages such as offers, reminders, notifications, and other marketing prompts get more eyeballs and digital engagement with a simple app.

In addition to putting up the app on your website, you may also need to launch it on an app store and do some app store optimization to promote visibility.

3. Utilize mobile search engine marketing

Since more people continue to spend more hours on the web on their mobile phones, it's not surprising that mobile marketers are investing more money into mobile advertising.

Mobile ad spending saw a 23% year-on-year growth in 2021 at $295 billion and is predicted to hit $350 billion in 2022.

Creative mobile-exclusive ads like call ads that place a call to your business when clicked upon by a searcher can also be digital marketing trump cards when played correctly and in the proper context.

As a mobile marketing strategy, search engine marketing doesn’t end with ads.

There’s also mobile SEO that leverages content marketing and optimizes your website for search engine queries from mobile.

4. Set up local advertising

Online business directories and listings offer you the opportunity to attract more mobile users to your business in a unique way.

When people move from one place to place, they whip out their mobile phones in search of businesses in their new location.

They often head to listings such as Google My Business, Bing, and Yelp.

Setting up shop on these platforms with up-to-date information about your business is a viable mobile marketing strategy that can improve your visibility online.

5. Mobile social media marketing

The global social media penetration rate stands at 54%, people spend an average of 2 hours 27 minutes daily on social media platforms, and 99% of them access these websites or apps on mobile.

With your target audience likely spending most of their time online on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and doing so on mobile devices, it’s wise to optimize your organic and paid digital marketing efforts on these platforms for mobile.

This could mean opting for shorter posts, for example.

6. Mobile email marketing

Although email marketing isn’t mobile-specific, you can get more results by ensuring your email campaigns are optimized for mobile use, as mobile accounts for 36.6% of email opens globally.

There are simple rules of thumb to create mobile-friendly emails.

Keep your copies short across the board, use pre-header text, be generous with white space, select fast-loading visuals, and use buttons.

To err on the side of caution, use email marketing software or mobile marketing tools that let you preview how your emails will look on mobile.

7. Geofencing

Geofencing is a neat location-based advertising move.

This mobile marketing strategy lets you create a virtual fence around specific locations. And then target smartphone users who step into those areas with relevant mobile ads.

It relies on technology ranging from WiFi to GPS and radio-frequency identification to Bluetooth.

Using geofencing, you can target people who enter areas close to your small business, complementary businesses, affiliates, or competitors.

Such people become automatic targets of your in-app, search, display ads, and other applicable parts of your mobile campaign.

8. SMS Marketing

SMS marketing or text messaging marketing involves sending text messages to your leads and customers.

As simple as that sounds, text messages are customers’ most preferred channels for receiving brand updates compared to email, app notifications, and direct mail.

Consider people’s affinity for text messages alongside their impressive open (99%) and click-through (45%) rates, and you have a solid channel for sending offers, coupons, alerts, and more.

Not to mention, SMS marketing is permission-based, so you’ll be dealing with a more receptive audience.

9. Optimize for voice search

In a study by Perficient, 55% of the respondents say they are hooked on voice search.

And as more people lean into voice search, it will play a role in how they interact with brands and shop online.

So how do you latch on to voice search as an effective mobile marketing strategy?

People mostly use voice search to ask specific questions, so create more content designed to answer your audience’s questions.

Also, voice searchers use more conversational long-tail keywords in their queries, so include these in your content to improve your visibility.

Set your sights on localized keywords such as your location.

10. Video marketing

Video marketing content is gradually becoming king as netizens watch an average of 19 hours of video each week.

This rapidly growing preference for video content extends to mobile commerce.

73% of people said watching a video was their most preferred way of learning about a product, and 88% claimed this had convinced them to buy a brand’s product or service at some point.

You can key into the video frenzy by incorporating videos into your website and social media content to drive brand awareness, engagement, and conversions.

Don’t forget to ensure anyone with a mobile device can view the videos seamlessly.

11. In-game advertising

Gamers spent $116 billion in 2021 on their favorite games.

Also, 50% of mobile gamers play for 10 hours or more per week.

So you have proof that people are likely more invested in mobile games than ever.

In-game ads come in various formats, ranging from banners on certain parts of the screen to interstitial ads.

For the best results, select the right platforms, choose the proper ad format, and get creative with your messaging for this digital marketing channel.

12. Use chatbots

Chatbots might just be a way for you to get a leg up on your competition.

They offer excellent customer support and can help you close leads with prompt and helpful answers, personalized messaging, recommendations, and more.

With chatbots, you’re looking at avoiding the cost of hiring several human support reps and the chance to offer quality round-the-clock service.

To top it off, customers don’t mind interacting with chatbots; they love that they can get instant answers.

13. Augmented reality

Augmented reality is another ace you can whip out to get ahead.

This fast-rising tech and mobile marketing strategy allows you to overlay digital elements on real-world objects through digital devices like smartphones.

You can use AR to drive more customer engagement with your brand and even deliver an excellent customer experience.

IKEA Place, for example, allows potential customers to use their smartphones to scan the preferred location where they’d want a piece of furniture in their apartment and see how that furniture looks before purchasing it.

14. Offer flawless customer support

Exceptional customer support will never go out of fashion.

Mobile marketing allows you to take this up a notch with social media support pages, in-app chat support, push notifications, and more.

Now you can leverage fresher and more accessible ways to attend to inquiries and improve your customer loyalty and satisfaction.

15. Highly targeted personalized campaigns

Running personalized campaigns targeting mobile users is a timeless marketing strategy.

Data points such as location, in-app and onsite behavior, demographic details, etc., can help tailor your marketing automation, ads, emails, text messages, and other elements of your mobile strategy to each customer's needs.

16. Use opt-in forms

Opt-in forms are a great way to ethically and sustainably launch and scale your mobile marketing campaigns.

With opt-in forms get your audience's permission to contact them directly.

You can collect customer emails, mobile phone numbers, and other valuable data to power your marketing campaigns.

Get creative with your opt-in forms, use A/B testing to see what works, and be sure to include opt-out options.

You Need a Cohesive Strategy

Chances are, mobile marketing is just one of many marketing strategies you have your eyes on.

This is your best bet because mobile marketing yields more results when it's part of a multifaceted marketing approach.

You need to outline each element of your multifaceted plan and tie them together and identify how all the areas can work collaboratively.

Now, crush your mobile marketing! (And share this post 😉)